The Markets Now: Stocks Remain Lower After Earnings Reports

Plus, Bank of America misses first-quarter estimates.

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Stocks have remained down after opening lower this morning. The Dow (INDEXDJX:.DJI) decreased 1.04% to 14,603.51. The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) dropped 1.59% to 1,549.54, and the Nasdaq (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) fell 2.01% to 3,198.99.

The Mortgage Bankers Association, or MBA, reported today that its Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased at a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.8% week-over-week for the week of April 12. The Refinance Index increased 5% from the previous week, the highest level since mid-January of this year. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 4% to its highest reading since May 2010. Read the press release here.

The Energy Information Administration reported today that crude oil inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve inventories, decreased 1.2 million barrels to 387.6 million barrels for the week ended April 12. Gasoline inventories decreased by 0.6 million barrels, and distillate fuel inventories decreased by 2.4 million barrels. US refineries operated at 86.3% of their operable capacity last week. Read the full report here.

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors will release its Beige Book today at 2 p.m. EDT. The book contains the Fed's anecdotal evidence on economic conditions from each of its 12 bank districts. It always releases the report two weeks before the Federal Open Market Committee meets.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) dropped 5.82% to $11.57. The bank reported a first-quarter net income of $2.62 billion, or $0.20 per share, versus $653 million, or $0.03 per share, in the prior-year quarter. The results missed the $0.23 per share estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Its revenue dropped 8.4% on an adjusted basis to $23.9 billion.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell 5.72% to $401.87, ending its two-day climb. Apple has been named in a China pornography app investigation, and the Chinese government ordered the iPhone producer to remove obscene content from its App Store.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE:FCX) dropped 4.44% to $27.95. Indonesian workers at a Freeport-McMoRan copper mine announced that they might strike again like they did in 2011. Trade union officials stated their intentions to strike a month before pay negotiations next month.

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) fell 2.21% to $20.57. Hewlett-Packard announced yesterday that it will partner with startup Leap Motion to produce computers controlled by a swipe of the hand.